


Maternal Instincts

by TheNiftyNarwhal



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Daddy Issues, Diego Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Fluff, Good Parent Allison Hargreeves, Good Sibling Allison Hargreeves, Hurt Klaus Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Men Crying, Mommy Issues, Number Five | The Boy Being an Asshole, Number Five | The Boy Has Issues, Other, Protective Allison Hargreeves, Sad Klaus Hargreeves, Sober Klaus Hargreeves, Stuttering Diego Hargreeves, The Hargreeves (Umbrella Academy) Need a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:35:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27993117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheNiftyNarwhal/pseuds/TheNiftyNarwhal
Summary: Allison's not like everyone else, she's a mother.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 112





	1. Chapter 1

It's not as if Diego means to get his words wrong.

It's never his intention the way his words slur together or the way he takes a good five minutes to squeeze one measly word out.

He's smart. He really is. He just wishes he could sound it, so everyone else could see just how smart he can be.

It's no secret that he struggles more in the morning.

Allison's maternal instincts are jolted to life for her adoptive brother as he's trying to get help at the breakfast table.

It's pathetic, really. To his mind, anyways.

"C-c-c-c-could you p-p-pass the--"

"You gonna spit it out or not!?" Five snaps, rolling his eyes in annoyance, because, well, everybody knows he doesn't have time for silly things like being humane.

Allison watches as Diego's features grow distressed and alarmed, a common occurrence for when he's interrupted.

"S-s-s-s-orr-y-y," he apologizes shakily, and Allison can tell that Five is making him nervous, further preventing him from being able to focus on clearing his speech.

Five huffs as if Diego's existence, itself, is a personal offense to him. Allison watches Diego's proud posture slump sadly, and it breaks her heart the way it reminds her of how Dad used to make him look and feel.

Diego reaches for the syrup he's been wanting, and bumps into Klaus' glass of orange juice.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" the junkie yelps, jumping to his feet and glaring down at his tie dyed shirt presently sticking to his nonexistent stomach with the juice,"Diego!"

Diego leaves the orange juice and falls backwards into his seat, looking stressed enough to cry. Allison can't bear it, her mother's heart paining and crying out for her to help in some way. 

She stands, handing her own napkin to Klaus and setting his glass back upright,"He didn't mean to, and you're fine, Klaus."

"But this was my favorite shirrrtttt!" Klaus wails in response, gingerly pulling the soggy material from over his head and looking at it as if it's the corpse of his best friend- not that that would be a problem for him, of course.

Allison rolls her eyes and then squeezes them closed for a moment,"I'll wash it, it'll be fine."

She takes the dingy, distinctly Klaus-smelling, foul garment from his outstretched hands and punches it between two fingers, tossing it into the laundry room off of the kitchen, before clicking back on her high heels with an old cardigan in hand for Klaus to wear in the meantime. She's aware of how little he has and knows that's the real reason for his overreaction.

She drapes it around his bare, bony shoulders from behind as she returns, hims casting her a grateful glance. She winks in exchange as she moves to the opposite side of the table from him, where Diego is sitting head down and eyes shamefully glaring at the tablecloth. 

She kneels beside him,"Hey."

He startles as she places a slender hand on his forearm softly and gazes into his painfully humiliated eyes.

"Were you asking for the syrup?" she asks quietly, not trying to embarrass him further, but sensing he's been deprived of that special understanding that _children_ with these sorts of issues are allowed to have, but is deemed uncalled for when it's an adult.

Diego nods, as if this is the most mortifying thing he's ever had to answer, not even meeting her eyes as he does. He bites his lip brutally and must think Allison isn't capable of noticing the enormous blotch of unshed tears resting over his caramel iris on one side.

Allison reaches an arm across the table,"Klaus, could you hand me the syrup, please?"

The heavily eyelined male acquiesces quickly, and, a minute later, she's drenching Diego's waffle in the amber substance. 

Diego looks at her for a long moment, like she hung the moon, and it hurt, for just a second, because his wonderstruck face reminds her very much of the one his niece, her daughter, would sport whenever she was impressed by something her mother did.

Allison snaps the syrup closed and sets it upright on the table, patting Diego's back gingerly, and giving him the lightest of squeezes around his broad shoulders as she stands. 

Diego's eyes follow her and she can't help but feel bad, as he looks like it's been a long, long time since anyone was kind to him, even in this small way. 

"Th-than-anks," he manages to squeeze out, lifting his fork in hand and taking a bite of the sweet breakfast.

She nods and smiles softly at him, Luther glaring at her from across the tabletop, he's never been in favor of babying Diego. Allison ignores the look, her intuition screaming for her to pay attention to the most, debatably, fragile person at the table.

Diego's focus appears to be on his food, intently, after that.

Allison watches him with the kind of sad sympathy one watches a little kid with.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's the middle of the night, the next time her services are needed. 

She's awake because she can't sleep and she hears someone whimpering in the hallway outside her room. 

It's a high pitched, frightened, babyish sound that she can't quite place the owner of.

She stands from her bed and opens her the door. 

"Hello?"

"No-no-no, Daddy, noooo!" 

She recognizes that aching cry right away. 

"Klaus?" she steps into the hallway and flips the light switch on.

Klaus is half naked and shivering in the hall, curled up into a ball with his arms around his legs.

Tears are dripping off his scruffy chin, his eyeliner streaking his gaunt cheeks.

"Make it stop, please!"

Allison's by his side in a moment,"Klaus, shhhh...."

He shrieks and pulls away but she's quick to grab the lanky body of her brother in her embrace and hold him. She knows what he's afraid of and she knows there's nothing she can do, really, besides assure him that everything's okay.

It's really not, though.

She holds him carefully, rocking them in a heap and patting his thigh softly with one hand, shushing and soothing as much as she can.

"Klaus, you're wet!" she notes, not disgusted, more heartbroken at the level of terror he must be experiencing to lose control to such a degree. 

He tries to pull away,"Don'let Dad fin'out, don'let Dad fin'out."

She pulls him back to her chest patting his shoulders gently,"I'm not gonna tell, it's gonna be okay. You're not alone, and you're not in trouble, you hear me?"

Klaus wraps his arms around her and presses his ear to her heart, listening to the ticking and trying to use it to drown out the hundreds of voices he can't seem to shut out.

Allison comforts him the way she would comfort Claire, humming and massaging and just, being there.

Eventually, Klaus' hysterical sobs have mellowed to mere sniffles and she rests her chin atop his greasy curls.

"Do you wanna go get a bath, maybe?" she suggests, patting his back and whispering quietly.

He whimpers against her,"I don'wanna be alone again, 'm'not high."

She nods,"Go run yourself a bubble bath, and make sure you're covered. I'll come and sit in there with you."

"Thank you," he whispers, closing his eyes and breathing her calming perfume in deeply.

His voice is so serious that Allison can scarcely believe it's his, but that only serves to further assure her that she's very much needed.

Grace used to help him, but she's been out of commission for a bit, so Allison feels it's her job to tend to her siblings for her.

Klaus wobbles on his feet as he stands, Allison steadying him by his tiny waist and not letting go until she's sure he can take that first step. He starts to the bathroom and she heads for his room to grab some clothes. 

Upon reaching the doorway, she finds that she can't imagine entering the unlivable habitation and just goes for one of her nightgowns. Klaus has never been afraid of wearing "girly" things.

She grabs a lacey one she knows he'll like and heads for the bathroom, once more. 

"Can I come in?" she asks, rapping with her knuckles on the white door.

Klaus mumbles a "yeah", and she enters.

He's up to his neck in bubbles and she closes the toilet seat lid to sit beside him, as promised.

He looks up, gratitude in his cunning eyes,"Thank you."

She waves a hand of dismissal,"Don't mention it, you'd do the same for me. "

He looks so warm and at ease, and that spreads through her as well, as he extends a damp hand for hers.

She takes it and strokes it comfortingly, Klaus whimpering as someone screamed that only he could hear.

"No, please," he broke out, not wanting to let go of Allison so only covering one ear,"I've been good, I've been good."

"You have, " Allison assures, stroking his knuckles softly,"You're so brave, they aren't gonna hurt you, you're safe. I'm here, you're not alone."

She tries to think of what she'd want to hear if the roles were reversed, but she comes up short, so she just says whatever she can think of and hopes something will help.

Klaus eventually is reduced to just trembling in his foamy bathwater, and Allison begins pouring the warm water gently over him as a soothing factor. It helps, and, by the end, his neck is resting against the edge of the tub, his face towards her and just watching sleepily as she covers his body with water. 

Allison strokes his cheek with a knuckle, and sighs.

Goddamn her maternal instincts.


	2. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pure self-indulgence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't great, but I'm hoping someone else out there enjoys this, I enjoyed the visual images it gave me. Lotsa love XXXXX.  
> If you like, please leave a sweet comment<3
> 
> P.S. the timeline is completely screwed here, I apologize XX

"Mom!"

Allison sits up with a start, her chest heaving as she throws a hand over her galloping heart.

"Vanya, stop!"

She glances around the room, there's a breeze, as if one of the windows was open, but everything is closed. She's safe and secure inside her childhood bedroom, for the first time being able to use those two adjectives to describe the place.

There's a sapphire-like glow seeping under her bedroom door, and she's unnerved by the shouts of her brothers in the hallway.

She leaps from the bed, tossing the covers aside, she lunges for her light switch but finds the electricity is out.

"Oh, shit, no, Vanya," she mutters, throwing open her mahogany door as she braces herself for the incoming force of her sister. 

Her suspicions are correct, as she's greeted by a forceful, cold blast that nearly knocks her from her feet as she grasps at her doorframe for balance. 

Allison peers out and finds that Vanya is at the end of the hall, her mouth and eyes oceanous tunnels, wide open and glowing, her arms thrust out at her sides and her chest thrown forward, energy radiating from her body as she screams. 

Everyone's in their nightclothes and strange things are happening all around her. 

Five is raging and seething in the blue lighting, his eyes more wide and maniacal than usual, as he's on his knees, jaw dropped and staring at the floor. 

"I failed. I failed. I failed," he chants brokenly, like a damaged record.

Luther is looking around frantically, his hands on his head as he worriedly searches for something,"Dad! Dad! I'm sorry, Dad, I'll do better!"

For such an enormous man, he sounds terribly small and fragile, and he's clearly not aware of the people around him.  
Klaus is curled up in a ball, his knees beneath his chin and his heavily black-lined eyes darting fearfully around as he clutches at his calves and rocks himself.

"No, no, no, no, don't leave me here again!" he's sobbing, gasping for air and crying hysterically,"Please, I'll try to be brave, take me out, please!"

Across from him is Diego, who's equally as hysterical as Klaus, if not more so, his eyes are wet and magnified with tears as he shrieks. He's not saying anything, but Allison suspects whatever he's afraid of runs deeper than what he's able to express in that moment. 

The only word he's successful in pronouncing is a tiny, raspy "M-Mom!"  
Allison tries to assess what's happening, and finds herself being pulled under into some illusion, herself.

_"Claire!" she screams, there's no response._  
_The world is a pile of rubble, there's smoke billowing in every direction, flames licking high into the sky, she can feel the skin melting heat on every side._

_No one is there._

_Not her baby._

_"Claire!"_

_Not her husband._

" _Scott!"_

_Not her brothers._

_"Klaus!"_

_"Diego!"_

_"Five!"_

_Not her mom._

_"Mama!"_

_And, not her sister._

_"Vany-"_

_"Allison."_

_She yelps and whirls around to face her glowing features. She's ghostly and grim, her face blank, the only notable detail of expression being her gaping, electric eyes._

"No!" she shrieks in the real world, stumbling backwards into her doorway.  
Vanya remains unmoved.

"What's happening!?" she wails, throwing her hands over her ears, similar to how Klaus is, and gasping at the horrifying images parading through her brain.

"She. Had. A--a nightmare."

It's Five speaking, and his speech is strained and struggling. 

"Somebody wake her up!" Allison screams, through clenched teeth as she tries to fight the hold her sister is getting on her psyche at the moment.

"Well, there's an idea!" Five snaps back sarcastically.

Allison manages to open her eyes and gasps as the visions of Vanya slicing her throat disappear into the present. 

"N-noohhh, Ma-ma-ma-ma-" Diego's wailing, his words so agonizingly staggered that Allison wants nothing more than to grab him, let him know that he's alright.

She can't, though, can't move at all.

Klaus is screeching, the kind of howl she imagines would come from the pits of hell, itself, a tortured, mangled sound that comes right from his very toes and splinters out of his lips, bleeding where he's worried them through with his teeth.

Allison wracks her brain, forcing her attention on the situation at hand, uncertain where her strength is coming from.

"No-" 

She's shocked to recognize the small, vacant cry as none other than Five's, on his knees and now visibly trembling. 

His shoulders, ever covered with his dapper blue blazer, are shaking and Allison knows immediately he's sobbing.

There's something about the way she can hear them all, all her brothers, the only people who mean as much to her as Claire, maybe, reduced to tears and broken. She feels an unknown sense of courage rising in her throat and can't bite back the words that next escape her mouth.

Any other time, she'd fight it, but not now, not when Luther, even, is whimpering in his corner of the hall.

She takes a deep breath, and tries to brush away the memory of the last time she'd tried to do this to Vanya.

"I heard a rumor that you woke up."

Everything stops.

The cyan glow disappearing, and the wind fading away.

They're left in bitter darkness.

Allison heard the thud as Vanya falls to the floor. 

She's uncertain who to run to first, immediately disregarding her own wavering balance and running to the closest Hargreeve to herself.

It's Five.

"Hey, hey, hey, it's okay, everything's alright," she coos, the way she would Claire after a nightmare.

She lifts the thirteen year old into her arms from behind, as is her instinctual reflex. She's aware that his conciousness is that of a fifty eight year old man, but she can sense a hurt so clearly radiating from him that she doesn't care.

He doesn't allow her to fully move him into her lap, as is her natural inclination for anyone smaller than herself, so she simply pulls his hesitating frame backwards against her chest. One arm swung over his shoulders and wrapped around his neck loosely, her elbow crooked and catching his chin as he lets his head fall forward dejectedly.

A lukewarm tear hits her bare skin as he mutters one more time,"I failed."

"You didn't, you didn't," she whispers into his ear, tightening her hold slightly.

He shudders and yanks away from her, jumping to his feet and lunging towards his bedroom.

Allison follows as quickly as she can, but she's no contest for the lithe boy who disappears with a final suppressed sob behind his heavy door, locking out everyone he's so desperate to keep safe that he can't get close to them for fear of losing them whilst he's distracted.

She spends a weary moment glaring at the wood, hating that her brother's so terrified to weaken, even for a second, that he'll hide in that room for days and shut everyone else out if it means that his vulnerable state is concealed.

Allison tears herself away, though, sighing and vowing to, somehow, mend her broken siblings, even if she's a bit shattered, herself.

Her attention shifts to Klaus', who's in the bathroom, slamming cabinets and mumbling senseless things as he goes.

She rushes into the white-tiled room and grabs her brother by his bare shoulders, spinning him around to face her and cupping his face in her hands as his eyes dart in fright around the room.

"Th-they're everywhere, I just need-I just-"his words bleed into a sob and he squeezes his painted eyes closed in the expression of a person mortally wounded.

She winces as she realizes he is, if not, physically, then, emotionally, and those sort of injuries take decades longer to suture.

"You're so strong, it's okay. You're in control, here, you're alright," she soothes, smoothing her thumbs across his scruffy cheeks, damp and scratching against her skin,"You don't need it, Klaus."

He whimpers,"But I can't-Allie, please, they're so-"

Allison pulls him against her body, so he's burying his face against her shoulder, still babbling frantically, but clinging to her blouse in desperation.

She massages his back softly, assuring him over and over that she's there and praying it's enough to keep him from going back to the substances that threaten his life but ease his mind.

He's shirtless, and perspiring severely, and, any other time, she'd tease and shove him away, saying he stunk. She can't, though, he's always been the most overtly fragile member of their mentally screwed clan and she'll be damned if she doesn't attempt to comfort her gentle hearted brother.

A tear slips down her own cheek as she sways their bodies in sync, there's, gratefully, not too much oof a height difference, so he's able to lean against her, comfortably.

She thinks of the way Klaus' nightmares have already come true, a thousand times over, when he was still in the age of Peter Pan and pirate ships. He should've been sent to bed with a kiss at night, not woken and dragged to a damp mausoleum in the dark to be traumatized to a lighter degree than some militiamen.

Allison hushes and strokes his messy curls a few minutes longer,"What can I do to make this better for you?"

He sniffles,"Got any heroin?"

He's only half-joking, she knows," Nice try."

Klaus pulls back and glances down at his fingers sadly, "Can I stay with you, please?"

He's too embarrassed at his request to look at her when he asks that she can't help the way she pouts sympathetically for him.

"Of course," she assures him, cupping his shoulder firmly and turning him to the door before slipping an arm around his shoulders and squeezing softly,"It'll be a tight fit, but we'll make it work."

He looks at her like he's been converted, he's certain God must be a woman, for a second and wraps her into a hug of his own, tightly embracing her.

"Thank you," he chokes out, and Allison's heart breaks all over again as she Pat's his spine timidly, almost afraid to move the wrong way because of how delicate he seems, just then.

"Listen, I'm gonna make sure everyone else is alright before going back to bed, so why don't you take a few minutes to breathe and maybe get some water, while I do that?"she suggests, leaning away and looking at his exhausted features with concern,"You can crawl into my bed whenever you're ready, and I'll be in soon."

He nods, and plants the sincerest, purest of all kisses on the crest of her cheekbone before he turns away, heading for the stairs.

She knows that in it is all the affection that he's too spent to express right then, and warmth engulfs her as she smiles to herself, overcome with love for the man she'll always refer to as her "little brother" (he's not, but he's always felt younger and more in need of protection than the rest, well, along with Diego).

He pads away, in a pair of ragged denim shorts only, to the kitchen for some water.

She pushes aside the grief she feels that Ben isn't by his side, anymore. It'd be so nice for him to have a familiar voice from the afterlife, hopefully, befriending him.

Now's not the time to think of tragedies, though, there's still Luther, Vanya and Diego to see to.

Allison hastens to Diego's open door, where he's laying facedown on his bed.

His eyes appear to be either fastened to the wall, or closed in slumber.

If he's awake, she knows he'll tell her he's fine, if he's asleep, he'll allow her to cover and kiss him without complaint.

She picks up the discarded blanket from the floor and begins to settle it over him. A strangled noise escapes his body, and Allison knows it's a cry that he's holding back until she leaves.

She throws the blanket over him, covering his goosebump-riddled body, sporting only a wife beater and boxer shorts. Sitting down on the edge of his bed, she tentatively touches his back.

"You don't have to hide from me, you know?"

He doesn't respond, but she sees his fist clench firmly, his fingernails digging into his palm roughly.

"If, or when, you feel like it, Klaus and I are gonna camp out in my room," she offers, not pushing him for words, but tracing circles into his back in comfort, anyways,"We'd love your company, if you'd like to share it."

He doesn't say anything, still, so she does something, that might seem a bit strange, but they're weird, anyhow, so, who cares?

She leans over him, and rests her cheek against the back of his raven mop of hair, still uncut and shaggy.

He doesn't budge beneath the weight of her as she says, carefully,"Mom wasn't the only one who cared about you. Never in a million years. We all care, and we all want to be there for you. Please, let us."

He's statuesque as she leaves, but she knows he'll bend like a twig in a few more moments.

Her next stop is Vanya, who's in her room, seated on the edge of her bed, cupping her kneecaps and staring at the floor. Blank tears are dropping into her lap, and Allison immediately pulls her in for a hug when she takes a seat beside her on the mattress.

"Everyone's okay," she answers Vanya's unaired query, "Are you, though?"

She rests her chin atop the mousey brown crown of her hair and hums.

Vanya's voice is sore and quiet,"I didn't mean to, it was so real, though. I was back in that cell, and-"

She turns her face into Allison's bosom tragically,"I didn't want to hurt anyone."

Allison nods and frowns against Vanya's head,"No one's hurt, and you're okay, physically, too, so, you see, you've done no harm."

Vanya's too drained to argue, and Allison can feel it in the way she seems to just completely slump against her own torso.

"Let's talk about this tomorrow,"Allison states decisively,"In the meantime, how would you feel about a sleepover?"

Vanya perks up unashamedly at the childish idea," A sleepover?"

Allison nods, releasing her grasp for the smaller girl to sit up slowly and look at her, a tired smirk pulling on her lips.

"Yeah, the boys are probably already there, now," Allison smiles,"We're camping out in my room for tonight, Diego, Klaus, and I. You should come hang out, too."

Vanya's eyes are bright with excitement over the cozy sound of the family being together after something traumatic. It sounds so inviting, so domestically blissful and just, so normal.

So, like a real family, like they've never really been able to experience before.

"Should I, um, bring a pillow and blanket, or....?"

Allison grins at her sister,"Yeah, I mean, if you want. I have plenty in my room, but, better safe than sorry."

Vanya's eyes glitter and her cheeks rosy up in a way Allison's only seen them look when she spoke of Sissy, and the kind of happiness she'd found in her.

"I have to check on Luther, but the boys are probably in there, already, if you wanna go ahead?"

Vanya hugs Allison once more, nothing else needs to be said for them to communicate how much the each means to the other in this intimate moment, they're like a cable knit sweater, tightly woven; both built with a heavy desire to bring warmth and love, even if they were only beginning to learn how to, now.

Allison stands and begins to make tracks for Luther's room as Vanya strips her bed, and grabs the teddy tucked into the far side of her bed. She's not sure who knows about it, but the bear's always been there for her in her lonely times, it seems only fair that it join her as she graduates, even for just one night, from a lonely dungeon of a room to a figurative mansion, surrounded by the people who could fear her, but choose not to, they want to be with her.

She wants to be with them.

She'd be lying if she used any other words than bounded to describe how she travelled to Allison's personal quarters.

"Luther?"

Her voice is equally as soft and gentle a tone as she'd used with the others, but this time, she's checking in with a less maternal attitude.

Luther's the one person in this house that she can verifiably say ties a different sort of knot in her toned stomach, and makes her heart swell with a slightly redder sort of love.

Not moreso than the rest, just differently than.

She finds him behind his closed bedroom door, staring out the window at the planet he'd been left on for four years.

His hulking silhouette is still enough to be made of granite, but it doesn't stop her from walking up behind him and wrapping her arms as far around him as she can and resting her cheek against his blue-pinstriped pajama shirt.

"You alright?" he asks, before she even gets the chance.

She nods, because she's not going to fall down the rabbit hole of remembering her own nightmare.

She lives Vanya too much to be angry for something that happened in either the past or her nightmares.

Claire is fine.

Luther is fine.

Her siblings are fine.

She is fine.

That's all that matters.

"Come to the slumber party in my bedroom?"she invites him, sensing his stoic air and recognizing that he probably doesn't want to discuss what his mind had offered him images of.

He moves into her touch, grateful for her being able to practically read his mind.

"We're having slumber parties now, are we?"he laughs, somewhat bitterly.

Allison bites her lower lip, uncertain how he'll feel about all this, but not caring at the same time.

"The boys, except for Five, and Vanya are already in my room-,"she begins.

Luther whirls around,"She's in-? Allison, no!"

Allison doesn't allow further argument, merely grabs his face between her hands, squishing his cheeks like a toddler's and speaking in an equally condescending tone to make him understand that she really doesn't want to hear it.

"I know you're scared,"she assures him,"But, this family has been through so much already, don't you think that we all deserve a chance to heal?"

She looks up into his eyes, his jaw is set and his gaze icy and distant.

He huffs and turns away,"I'm gonna sit up awhile."

Allison's heart drops, but she squares her shoulders and masks it well.

"Goodnight, Luther,"she bids him, squeezing his shoulder softly before stiffly leaving.

She doesn't want to say anything to upset him anymore, he's frightened, and she can understand why.

It's very hard straddling this fence, no matter what way she moves, there will always be splinters and cuts.

Ironically, the only people capable of tearing down this fence and easing her pain, though, are the very ones who put her atop it.

She'll never stop calling out and extending olive branches.

For her family, she would run herself through with a rusty chainsaw in a lonely lumber mill, with no one there to hear her cries.

She pauses in the doorway,"If you see Five around, though, please, check up on him."

Luther nods absently.

Allison bites back tears,"The door will be open."

She pads away in her barefeet and silk pajamas, to her room.

When she enters, she finds Vanya, already having laid out two blankets beneath herself to make a makeshift bed. She's covered with a quilt and snoozing peacefully, a tiny bear snuggled in her arms that Allison doesn't recognize.

Her heart is warmed by the fact that the little cot is wide enough to comfortably sleep two people, a pillow at the head of the other empty space.

Klaus is sitting cross legged on the bed, his stare vacantly on the wall, and his fingers in his mouth nervously.

Diego is leaning against the wall, arms crossed and head down.

They're both tense and Allison doesn't hesitate to sit down beside Klaus and pull him timidly until his head is in her lap and his hands resting under it.

He's trembling.

She doesn't say anything, just pulls a smaller blanket from the end of her bed and lays it over his body.

She combs her fingers carefully through his snarled locks and soothes with gentle shushes.

The smallest sound bubbles out of Klaus and she knows he's fighting his sleep, so she leans over so her cheeks is atop his. She's not applying pressure, just letting him feel her presence as intimately as she can.

He seems startled at first, but after a few seconds, he relaxes, and closes his eyes as the only thing he can actually see is Allison all around, and her hair blocks everything else out, draped over him.

It's like all he can focus on is her embrace and it comforts him, makes the ghosts stop their wailing for a while, or, at least, long enough for him to glide into a tranquil slumber.

Which, he does.

Allison is left, once she pulls away, firmly convinced he's asleep, with a docile, warm Klaus in her lap; head tilted upwards, forehead infant-smooth, black lashes contrasting with creamy cheeks and damp lips; glimmering and parted.

He stretches his arms out over his head and gets comfier, and Allison rocks a bit for comfort.

She turns to Diego, who's watched the entire ordeal; slightly envious of the way Klaus isn't, in the least, worried of looking weak, he's unafraid to be vulnerable around everyone. Diego, alternatively, stands, lips pressed strictly together, and eyes crestfallen.

"You wanna lay down?" Allison offers kindly, like Diego's the shyest little girl at one of Claire's sleepovers.

A lump forms in his throat that renders him mute, but Allison sees his nostrils flare in a telltale sign and leaps into action.

"Maybe, we could go for a little walk, first," she suggests, carefully maneuvering Klaus into her bed on his stomach and pulling her comforter over his bare back.

Diego is clueless, but allows himself to be pulled out of the room with one arm by his sister.

She leads him down the hallway in the dark and makes a slight right.

He follows blindly, uncertain why, but finding himself soothed by Allison, for once.

They end up in a bittersweet place, standing in front of dozens of gilded pictureframes and staring at lifeless portraits.

It's the place Mom used to come to charge.

She's not here, anymore, though.

Time was cruel enough to keep her away from him.

The one person who fully loved him, and she'd died, not once but twice.

Diego's not sorry, or able to be, for that matter, when he crumbles, like a house with a weak foundation, and sobs. This place is too reminiscent for him.

Allison settles on Mom's bench, and Diego ends up on his knees in front of her, face nestled against the fabric of her pants. They're damp and clinging to the skin of her thighs in no time, but she focuses on stroking Diego's wild hair.

"M-m-m-mom," he brokenly whimpers, and Allison's heart aches with the sound of his stutter.

He runs his cheek over her pant leg like he's trying to dry it, but breaks down again before it really has the chance to.

"I w-w-wanted-"

He gives up with a groan, obviously irritated with his stammering and thinking she would be, too.

She's not, though.

Instead, she's pulling him up by under his arms to sit beside her and putting her arm around his broad shoulders so that she can lean her head against his bicep affectionately.

The idea is she doesn't want him to feel small, wants to give him the upper hand so that he doesn't feel so nervous.

It works, as he speaks again, this time a bit more clearly.

"I w-wanted to get M-mom, but the-then I r-remembered that she wa-was-"

He can't finish the sentence.

Allison nods against him petting the back of his head softly,"I'm sorry, Diego."

He looks down at his tanned knees, barely illuminated by the dim lighting of the hallway.

"I know you were closer to her than the rest of us," she notes, wanting him to feel like his emotions are validated.

He stares ahead, a tear threatening to fall as he tremors lightly and struggles to hold in how he's feeling, biting his lower lip hard.

Allison massages his shoulder tenderly.

"She was just a r-robot, Allison, d-do we really think we ever rea-really meant anything to her?"

She turns to him gravely, "Of course we did, Diego. We meant everything to her. She was our mom."

He sniffles,"I think a-alot about whether or not she really cared about us, or-or if she was just doing what Dad programmed her to do."

Allison speaks carefully,"Grace might have started out as just a robot, but she developed into something much more than that, Diego. Much in the same way to how we started out programmed, in a sense, to be heroes, but evolved into our own people with flaws, emotions, and opinions."

"Grace was our mother," she states firmly,"And, as a mother, myself, I promise, that there was never another person who cared for you more, or had more faith in you than she did."

Diego turns his face slightly towards her, through trying to be manly, just feeling an overwhelming ache in his chest for the woman who'd so patiently guided him through the things that no one else seemed to seem him important enough to.

She'd helped him learn to speak, taught him everything he knew of taking care of himself, and made certain that he knew exactly how to tend to his knives. Grace had been more than just his mom, she'd been his best friend, the only person who truly knew Diego, inside and out.

"You think she thought about me when she was dying?" he asks timidly, looking into the painted eyes of the elegant mistress in the portrait Grace had always found intriguing.

Allison moves positions, wrapping her arms around Diego and pressing a kiss to his scarred temple.

"I know she did," she affirms," She was watching out for you from that window, hoping you'd made it out okay. She was praying with all her heart that you weren't burned from the fire, and that you weren't afraid."

She knows that this is true for, probably, all the kids, but she's aware of the special part of Grace that had been set aside just for Diego, and that's the part of her that she's calling upon for a reference now.

Diego's lower lip swells.

Allison continues,"I can promise you that when she was going, she was wondering if you had anyone to make you breakfast the next day, and if you would have a place to sleep. After she saw you, the only thing she could think was 'It's okay, he's alright. He's alright.Thank God, he's alright'."

Diego falls into Allison and allows her to baby him as he silently cries.

She runs her fingers over the stubble at the base of his neck, underneath his thick mane of hair. She hushes him softly.

She doesn't mean to make him feel any more emotional but she knows, as a mother, what she would want someone to make sure Claire knew if she died, so she does the favor for Grace.

"Don't ever EVER think that you failed her, Diego," she orders sternly,"Because, you should know that every day that she woke up, you were on her mind. Every second she spent wandering around this house was spent hoping you'd be taken care of, wherever you were. All she wanted was for you to see yourself the way she saw you."

Diego is tame against her chest, so Allison continues, hoping she's doing the right thing,"Grace never let your stutter or the way you're afraid of needles paint the portrait of you she had in her mind. No. The things she noticed, was your heart, and how good it is. She knew that you would die, in an instant for her, if it came to it, and that scared her more than death itself."

Allison takes a deep breath, as this conversation has been quite introspective for her, as well.

"You are doing an amazing job, Diego," she compliments him quietly,"Not many people could still love the way you do, after having been hurt by someone meant to love you."

She takes notice of the way he's grown heavy and limp in her arms, determining that he's fallen asleep, and, somehow, not minding, just hoping he'd heard something that he'd been meant to.

She holds him a few more minutes before the silence of the place is cut by Luther's voice.

"Need help?"

Allison glances up, slightly startled.

Luther is standing there in his pajamas, a faint smirk on his lips.

She nods,"He needs to be laid down and my arms are hurting, but I hate to wake him and there's no way I'll get him there by myself."

Luther kneels in front of the pair once he moves closer and timidly brushes a brawny hand between Diego's shoulder blades.

"Who knew he was such a kitten?" he attempts to tease, the awkward tension becoming uncomfortable.

Allison rolls her eyes,"How about you take him to spoon with Klaus in my bed for me?"

Luther stifles a laugh,"Yes ma'am. "

He lifts Diego easily from Allison's embrace and holds his slightly younger brother (their ages have just become a source of confusion, anymore, so they've just decided that Klaus, Diego and Vanya are the babies, whilst Luther, Allison, and Five are the older siblings, and, thus, slightly more parental) in an infantile manner, cradling his legs and neck.

Allison is quick to catch the Latino boy's dark head as Luther situates him and completley forgets to support his limp neck.

She trails after her brothers to her bedroom and finds Vanya and Klaus now curled up together on the bed, her teddy bear being apparently shared between them.

The cot on the floor is a bit rumpled but she straightens it and Luther lays Diego down on the blankets, his head on Vanya's fluffy pillow.

Allison seems uncertain what to do now, but Luther catches her wrist as he kneels down on the blankets, indicating his intent to lay down.

She smiles, and feels that same sentimental heat swarm her mind and body as she moves forward, slotting herself between Diego and their bulky big (literally) brother. Luther crooks his arm and Allison cuddles into his side, resting her head in the nook of his elbow and smiling up at him as they snuggle together.

Luther throws a sizable blue and red quilt over all three of their adult bodies and reaches up to pull the lamp string to shut out the lights.

It only takes a little under a dozen minutes for them to fall asleep together.

Allison is woken up only one more time in the night, when she feels a light stirring at her feet.

She sits up gingerly, avoiding waking Luther or Diego on either side, and glancing down into the pool of darkness at the foot of their makeshift bed.

It's hard, at first, to make out his silhouette, but she soon recognizes Five's small form trying to sneak quietly into the little haven in her room. He's got no pillow or blanket, but he's attempting to slip his chilled toes beneath the edges of the comforter where Diego is curled up.

"Five?"

He snaps to attention,"I'm, ummm...I was just thinking that being alone while sleeping....it's quite compromising, if anyone should attack and---"

"Here," Allison cuts him off by pulling one of the two pillows from under Diego's head and tossing it to him,"I think there's another blanket up where Klaus and Vanya are laying."

Five stretches his short arm out and grabs the corner of a fleece blanket, effectively stripping it from around Klaus, who groans and wraps himself around Vanya sleepily, and pulling it down to cover himself with.

"Is it comfortable enough to sleep down there?" she asks, concern swaddling her tone as she peers down at the slight figure of her brother.

He nods resolutely, and lays on his back, satisfied that his whole family's right here in this room with him; safe and sound,"I've slept in worse places than this."

She smiles softly and lays back, tucking back against Luther and pulling the tip of the quilt further over Diego's exposed shoulder.

"Goodnight, Allison," Five whispers, uncertain if she'll hear, but still hoping she would.

Allison could burst with happiness, for reasons she doesn't understand, since this is such a small thing, and, yet, so huge. They've never been able to enjoy this sort of thing before. The comfort of each other was always strictly regulated in their youth, and, now, here they are coming together after the storm, so to speak.

She closes her eyes and smiles so her dimples pop in the darkness,"Goodnight, Five. "  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



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